Heartbinding
Chapter 5
Kishi woke up in his bunk, stretching his arms as hard as he could and yawning. He looked out the porthole window at the wide expanse of space and everything he had experienced came flooding back to him. The note from Oswald, Master Yen Sid's tower, the ship, Radiant Garden, Tsuki, the Restoration Committee. Wait...Tsuki? Kishi looked around the sleeping quarters of the ship and noticed his new travel companion wasn't there. He also looked back out the window and noticed the stars weren't exactly moving, the ship was.
"Oh no." he muttered to himself, getting up quickly and waking Kuro up in the process.
He opened the door to the main bridge where the cockpit was. And sure enough, Tsuki was in the pilot seat.
"Dammit! I told you I'm the only one who's flying the ship!" he hollered at the girl. He trounced up to her and put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to get her out of the pilot seat.
"Oh c'mon, you were asleep for so long. I had to. You've been asleep for like twenty hours. Didn't you say we were in a hurry to find this master of yours? Also, when was the last time you slept?"
Kishi scratched the back of his head. "Yesterday was kind of a big day, and the day before. I don't think I actually stopped to get sleep."
"Well, go wash up and I'll let you take over. I can smell something awful. It's either you or Kuro, and at this point I think Kuro is cleaner than you."
"Cute. I'll be back in fifteen." Kishi deadpanned in reply.
The young keyblade wielder showered and brushed his teeth, while making sure his combat uniform was clean enough to still wear out. He toweled off his hair as he re-entered the main bridge.
"You find any new worlds while I was out?"
"Nope, just barren asteroids so far. What course did you chart out?"
"Uhhh... I don't know. I just opened a portal with my keyblade. Master Yen Sid told me to follow my heart, or something like that."
"Wait, you just jumped into space without a plan in place? Do you have any idea how far apart worlds are in space!?" she asked angrily.
"Look, I didn't know jack about space until a few days ago! I'm just doing what the smarter old people tell me to do for now."
"You're unbelievable. If we don't find a new world soon we might be lost in space for good!"
"You mean like that world right there?" Kishi said, pointing over Tsuki's shoulder. The world they were approaching looked to be lacking in civilization, covered in overgrown greenery and oceans. There was ominous air about it as the ship got closer.
"Hmmm... I don't know about this. The display says this is an uncharted world. Maybe we should turn around and head back to Radiant Garden to reroute." Tsuki said.
"Oh come on, you just said we needed to find a new world and here it is. You're not gonna turn away at the first sign of the unknown, are ya?"
Tsuki sighed, "Alright alright. Preparing for outerworld atmosphere docking." "Oh, there's a term for that? I just said we're here and got out."
The Gummiship entered hovering idle mode just above the new world for them to enter. Just as Kishi was about to exit the ship, Tsuki stopped him. "Wait, we need to make sure we fit in."
"Okaaaay? How do we do that? We don't know what's down there, and I don't exactly have an extra wardrobe here."
Tsuki winked and brought out her keyblade, "Just leave it to me." She drew a circle of light in the air in front of Kishi. The light seemed to collapse in on itself and embed into Kishi's clothes.
"Since your clothes are magic, I can cast a new enchantment on it. If we don't fit in somewhere, our clothes will morph to look like the locals."
"Wow, that's...convenient? Does your keyblade have a name by the way?"
"Oh yeah, I think mom called it the 'Sign of Innocence'. She said it fit my personality to a tee."
"Yeah, that really fits." Kishi replied, rolling his eyes as hard as he could.
"Let's just get moving."
Touching down on the new world, Kishi felt a rush of icy cold air. But he also felt like he was wearing heavier clothes than he was a second ago. The surrounding land was a wilderness clearly in the dead of winter. Ice and snow covered every inch of foliage and most of the ground. But what really threw him off was the huge array of stone statues. They were all in varied poses and shaped like different people, but they all almost showed the same sign of terror on their faces.
"Woah, Kishi! You look like... a caveman!" Tsuki exclaimed. He looked down to see that his outfit had transformed into a brown suit of pelts and furs. He felt his chin and noticed that the magic had somehow given him a full set of facial hair. He turned around and saw that Tsuki was wearing a similar ensemble, thankfully with no added beard.
"So do you. And you have...cracks?" he said, pointing out the black cracks that seemed to be on her face going across her eyes.
"Are they anything like yours?" she asked. Kishi reached up to his face and could definitely feel a line of rough texture running down the side of his face.
"What do you think happened in this world?" he asked.
"It might have something to do with these creepy statues everywhere."
"Definitely nothing I've seen before. Hey, you don't think...these are people..."
"What? Nooooo. C'mon Keesh, not even the Heartless can turn people to stone like this. This is obviously some sorta... elaborate art piece... or claymen homunculi that came to life and then dried out in the sun... or a masterful prank..." Tsuki said way too confidently.
"Right, well obvious repression of a horrifying truth aside, we should start looking for people. There's smoke over that way, that must mean someone started a fire." Kishi said, pointing to the black cloud rising over the distance.
"Let's go, c'mon Kuro." Kishi called. The dog was currently frolicking and rolling around in the snow. When hearing his name he immediately stood at attention and followed.
As the trio moved through the forest, the snow seemed to be thinning out, like it had been recently treaded on. The crunch of the ice underfoot was the only sound accompanying them for a while. As they continued downhill, a noticable smell started to waft through the air and across their noses. The aroma made Kuro start panting and pick up his pace.
"What's that smell? It's not a bad smell, but it's not something I've had smelled before." Tsuki said.
"Really? You don't recognize it? I didn't think I would find it out here, but that's ramen!" Kishi exclaimed. He started picking up his speed into a light jog.
"Ramen?"
"Yeah, it's this awesome food! I'm surprised you've never had it."
"And you won't get a chance to taste it!" A voice said from behind them. The group stopped in their tracks. Suddenly, Kishi found himself pinned with his arms at his side by a taller muscular young man with super short brown hair and sporting a pair of rectangular glasses. Before Tsuki could react, she was stopped with a sword held up to her neck by a young woman with pale blond hair pulled up in a blossoming ponytail and blue eyes. Both were wearing leather outfits stained navy blue. Kuro growled angrily at the man pinning his friend down.
"Ouch! Hey, okay, easy big guy. We're just here to help. My name's Kishi and this is Tsuki. The dog that's about to tear your throat out cause you didn't account for him is named Kuro."
"We didn't rule him out." The young girl said, as a huge net shot out of the bushes and wrapped around the large black canine. Kuro struggled with the ropes but eventually tripped over from the entanglement.
"Nice job guys, tie them to a tree before we interrogate them." Came a new voice. Out of the bushes was another young man, considerably shorter than the one who attacked Kishi, at least when you didn't account his hair. The hair in question was sticking straight up and was faded from white to pale green. From a distance his head looked like a bunch of radishes. He had pale skin and piercing red eyes. His outfit was more tan colored and shaped to look almost like a lab coat, complete with E=MC^2 on his lapel. What also stood out was that he had two of the same black face cracks over his eyes, while the other two people didn't seem to have any. He was also carrying some sort of crossbow that seemed to be where the net came from.
"Senku, they're obviously spies sent by Tsukasa. We should kill them now before they see our secret project." The blonde girl said. Without saying anything, the brown haired boy forced Kishi against a tree and tied him up with a length of rope.
"Kinro, what are you doing?" the girl asked.
"What our chief told us, Kohaku. Rules are rules." he replied, his voice deep and authoritative. The blonde grunted in annoyance and did the same with Tsuki, tying her to the tree right next to him. Kinro then went over to Kuro and used the rope of the net to bind his legs together, making Kishi struggle against his bonds.
Senku walked up to the two of them, "Alright, start talking. Why'd Tsukasa send you guys? We knew a spy would be by here, but not this soon."
"What are you talking about onionhead? We don't even know a guy named Tsukasa, we just got here!" Kishi spat back. The albino boy smirked and raised an eyebrow at that.
"Just got here? Now that's an interesting thing to say. So, were you just released from the stone by accident? Is there another bat cave around we don't know about?"
"Stone? What? Are you saying you were one of these statues?" Tsuki asked.
Senku blinked in confusion, "Okay, now you're not making sense. You say you're not with Tsukasa, but you're just randomly here. You say you don't know about the petrification, but you have the black marks showing you were alive when it happened. I'm ten billion percent sure your story doesn't add up. So, either you're lying and you are a part of Tsukasa's army, or you're hiding something else."
Silence hung in the air for a few moments. Kishi growled again in frustration.
"What do we do, Keesh?" Tsuki asked.
"We're gonna have to tell them the truth." Kishi said, sighing in defeat.
"What? But the Order!"
"It doesn't matter. They think we're an enemy of theirs, and we clearly don't know what's going on. So we either tell them the truth or they kill us."
The three locals looked to each other in extreme confusion as this argument occured.
"Ugh! Fine! You tell them if you want. We're dead either way." Tsuki said.
Kishi then began explaining as much as he could to the group. The concept of other worlds, the Heartless attacking, the keyblade, and how they ended up here.
"You don't seriously believe this, do you Senku? I mean, it sounds crazier than the stories we had before you showed up." Kohaku said. The chief picked his ear with his pinky, "I believe it about as hard as I can throw them, and you guys know how shot my own strength is. Thankfully, we have the perfect lie detector playing for our team. Suika!" As he said this, a watermelon seemingly hopped out of the nearby bushes and bounced up to the warriors. The watermelon then revealed itself to be a small child, also in navy blue, who was wearing the watermelon rind on their head.
"Is this kid how you knew we were coming?" Tsuki asked.
"You catch on quick." Senku replied, "Suika, go get Gen. I need his specific talents."
"You got in Senku!" the child said, her voice revealing that she was pretty clearly a girl. She jumped back into her watermelon helmet and bounced away.
"Shouldn't be that long. Kohaku, Kinro, keep watching these guys." The two fighters nodded silently.
"Take as long as you need, Einstein. If it can confirm our story and get you to trust us, we'll wait as long as we need. Provided you cut my dog loose first."
"Ha! No deal, buddy. Your mutt might attack us on sight."
"Grrrr"
"Heh, though you're acting more like a dog than he is at the moment."
"Yeah, I think it's a side effect..."
After about an hour, Suika came bouncing back up the hill. Following behind her was a another skinny pale young man. He had had black and half white hair combed over to the side in a way that reminded Kishi of Ienzo back in Radiant Garden. He wore a bright purple robe strangely enough, and his whole aura just read as 'sinister'. The black crack on the side of his face in the shape of a crooked smile only accentuated this.
"Senku, to what pleasure do I owe this walk away from my joyous endeavor of making batteries for you?" he asked, sarcasm pouring out of his mouth.
"Very funny Gen. You're an expert in decoding people. These guys have a real loony story. I want you to listen to them and determine if they're lying or crazy."
"Oooo, those are my two favorite kind of people." Gen replied, approaching the two keyblade users.
"My name is Gen Asagiri. I was something of a professional Mentalist before the Earth went topsy turvy. If you have a secret, I can snuff it out." he said, a sly grin creeping its way onto his face.
"Alright, well, like I told your 'fearless leader', we're not from around here." Kishi recalled everything he told Senku...again. As he explained everything, Gen paced around both trees, looking up and down the two prisoners, observing them from every angle as if to find something extra hidden.
"Hmm...well. It sounds ridiculous. But, either they're the best liars I've ever met, or they truly believe what they're saying. They definitely don't know Tsukasa or Hyoga. I would advise we let them into the village for now."
"So you guys actually believe us?" Tsuki asked.
"Not so fast. It's still way too far fetched, but we'll believe that YOU believe that story." Senku said, "Kinro, untie them, and the dog as long as he doesn't get wild." The tall warrior did as his chief commanded and cut loose the two's bonds with his katana. Kohaku, meanwhile, used one of her daggers to cut loose Kuro. The black dog immediately shot up and barked at the blonde girl, ready to pounce.
"Kuro, heel! We're gonna play nice." Kishi ordered as he got untied, "Well, since you were oh so kind in freeing us, I can actually show you proof." He held his hand out, causing Kinro and Kohaku to jump back, both having their hands on their arms ready to strike. Kishi summoned Starlight to his hand with a magical flash of aetherial light. Tsuki took the hint and followed suit with the Sign of Innocence.
Senku raised his eyebrow in bewilderment. He leaned slightly to Gen, "Hey Gen, I probably know the answer to this already, but can illusionists do this kinda trick?"
"Not in this environment. And certainly not with the technology we've managed to advance so far."
"Well, this just got ten billion percent way more interesting."
Just then, small dark creatures slithered out of the bushes and trees. At first, Kishi assumed they were the Heartless reacting to his Keyblade coming out, but he noticed something a little different. They weren't exactly the shadow Heartless. They were deep navy blue and had a more slim angular look to their form. Their eyes, rather than the bright yellow orbs Heartless had, were sharp red triangles that gave even creatures this small a sinister look.
"Senku! Gen! Get behind us!" Kishi yelled. Tsuki took her battle stance to Kishi's left and they exchanged a nod. Kuro scurried to his right and did the same. The creepy albino and the purple cloaked schemer rushed behind the trees that the two were just tied to. Kohaku and Kinro both unsheathed their katanas and also stood by the keyblade wielders.
"You two should find cover, too. These aren't regular enemies." Tsuki said.
"Our job is to guard the village from all threats, no matter what." Kohaku stated firmly.
"It's my duty to protect anyone the chief needs me to. Rules are the rules." Kinro said, pushing up his glasses with his off hand.
"Alright...I don't know what these things are either, but Tsuki and I are gonna play it safe. We'll yell when we're about to cast something so you guys can get out of the way. Got it?"
"Not sure what that means exactly, but we got it." Kohaku assured Kishi.
More and more of the blue creatures came out of the foliage, like a swarm of insects encroaching on them. Not wanting to play defensively again, Kishi charged forward and slashed at one of the monsters. Much like the Shadow Heartless, the entity disappeared after one hit, but Kishi could feel a significant more amount of force required to run it through. Kohaku and Kinro both managed to carve through the enemies expertly. The blonde girl was jumping around doing flips with the grace of an Olympic gymnast, while the tall brunette man was able to deliver super swift and effective strikes to the hoard. Kuro did his best to claw and bite at the creatures, but they were surprisingly effective at ducking and weaving the canine's attacks. One of the blue monsters took a swipe at Kuro, giving him a cut on his side. Somehow, this made Kishi pause and flinch, feeling a sudden sharp stabbing pain in his ribs. Tsuki stood behind the group, chanting some gibberish to herself, as the snow and ice on the ground started to rise up and converge into large blue ice crystals.
"Everybody get outta the way!" She called out. Kohaku jumped up into a nearby tree. Kinro did a jump tuck and roll to the side. Kishi and Kuro sprinted to behind Tsuki. The creatures started gathering en masse and focusing on their biggest threat, the magic girl. Just as they were about to pile on top of her, she spun her keyblade around and all the ice crystals flew into the tip of the blade.
"BLIZZAGA!" She yelled as an enormous flurry of cold air and snow shot from her weapon. The wave of icy wind passed through the creatures and froze them all solid, perfectly held in place by the ice. At least for a moment, then the ice sculptures began to crumble and shatter to the ground, the creatures barely recognizable in frozen chunks.
Everyone in the area had their jaw on the ground, even Kishi who had seen her cast magic before.
"What was that!? And why couldn't you do it before? And what were those things? Those weren't Heartless." Kishi spat out.
Tsuki unsummoned her keyblade, "That's the strongest spell I know right now. The reason I didn't use it in our last battle is because I'm not strong enough to cast it immediately. And it drains a lot of ener-" Suddenly her knees buckled and she started to collapse. Kishi instinctively caught her by the shoulders before she faceplanted into the snow. "Yup, there it is. It takes a lot outta me." she explained.
Senku and Gen came out from behind the trees, still in awe at what they had seen. Senku suddenly seemed lost in thought as he paced back and forth.
"This doesn't make sense. It just doesn't add up. It doesn't add up...yet." he muttered to himself.
"Uh..Senku? You doin' okay?" Kohaku asked, jumping down from the tree.
"We're going back to the village. Make sure they're accomodated. I...I gotta go do some research." He said, his voice quieting to a whisper as he started the walk back.
"Rules are rules, let's go." Kinro stated. Kishi and Tsuki nodded and followed the group back downhill towards the smoke.
"So, you guys really are sorcerors? Like actual ones?" Kohaku asked as they walked.
"Actual Sorcerors? Something like that. Are there fake sorcerors around here?" Tsuki asked.
"Well, back when I first met Senku, I thought all of his science was some kind of magic. Our friend Chrome even practiced 'sorcery' all day, before learning what science really was."
"So this Senku guy is some kind of genius scientist?" Kishi asked.
The blonde girl nodded, "He saved my life after a tree fell on me. Then he went on to save my sister's life with his scientific cure all. He said it was called an 'antibiotic'."
"Wait, he was able to find penicillin here without any technology?" Kishi asked, confused about the setup they had.
"No, he said we couldn't find it. He and Chrome managed to make the drug with a bunch of chemicals we collected from nature. And we do have technology. Though, from what Senku told me of the before times, we still have a long way to go. That's how Kinro and Suika both got their glasses."
"The Before Times? So Senku really was trapped in stone like all these people." Kishi assumed.
"I was as well. Believe me I was just as shocked as you when I saw him make a lightbulb." Gen pointed out.
"Wow. That's kinda incredible. Wait...you asked if we were with a guy named Tsukasa. What's that all about?" Kishi asked.
A hush fell over the group, "He's a monster." Kohaku stated matter-of-factly.
Gen continued, "He was one of the first people Senku freed from the stone. He's a massive and massively strong caveman of a human being, even back before everything went topsy turvy. He wants to destroy all the technological advancements made by Senku, and make a world where the young live wild and free. He's been building an army of the strongest young people he could find. And he's been destroying and old people still trapped in stone."
"So what's the plan to stop this guy!?" Tsuki asked loudly, her anger clearly coming through at the news.
A silence fell on the group as Gen, Kinro, and Kohaku looked to each other nervously.
"Cell phones..." Gen said, almost ashamed of the idea.
"I'm sorry, did you say cell phones?" Kishi asked.
"Senku said it's important for communication since we have some allies spying on Tsukasa's army." Kohaku explained.
"Huh, I guess that does kinda make sense if you're thinking tactically." Kishi pondered, "This Senku guy sounds incredible to do all this, you guys must really idolize him."
"Uh...he's kind of slimey sometimes..."
"He can be real Azy-Cray."
"I must admit his methods are... unconventional..."
"Look alive newbies, we're here!" Senku called from the front of the pack.
The awkward silence hung in the air as they made their way through the bushes and finally arrived at the village, or at least the outskirts of the village where Senku had set up a lab. There was a thatched roof tree house about a story off the ground. Next to it was a slightly larger building on the ground made of cement. A long black cable ran out the front door of the small structure and back into the woods. Out in the distance, Kishi and Tsuki could just barely make out a massive waterwheel spinning in place. There were also several clay furnaces with smoke bellowing out. A short yet extremely muscular old man with a huge white beard was fiddling with one of the furnaces, blowing a huge blob of glass through a tube. A young man with spiky brown hair wrapped in a white cloth headband jumped out of the treehouse. He was wearing the same navy blue outfit that Kohaku and Kinro wore.
"Yo Senku! Did Kohaku and Kinro nail those spies?" he asked as he climbed down the ladder with one hand, the other holding a box of seemingly random minerals.
"Not exactly Chrome. They're gonna stay with us for awhile. Their names are Kishi and Tsuki. I need some private time in the treehouse." Senku stated matter-of-factly as he climbed the ladder.
"Uh...ok. You doin' okay Senku?" Chrome asked.
"I think I need to process the stuff I've found out today." he said as he shut the small door behind him.
"Oh man, you musta really shook him with what happened. The name's Chrome by the way, second greatest scientist of Ishigami Village!" he said cheerfully, offering his hand to Kishi.
"Nice to meet you. I think we may have accidentally proven some laws of science wrong when those monsters attacked." Kishi said, shaking the young man's hand.
"Monsters? Those are real?" Chrome asked, a horrified look on his face.
"Yeah, we managed to fight them off but they could be back any time now." Kohaku said.
"I'll take watch outside the village. Kohaku, get Ginro and Magma and explain what we saw. We're probably gonna have to do sleeping shifts for a nightwatch. Your father might want to help as well." Kinro suggested. The girl nodded in agreement and took off towards the main village entrance.
"What can we do to help?" Tsuki asked the villagers.
"Well, one of you can help me make batteries. They're easy to make, but I still have a couple hundred to go." Gen suggested, finishing with a sarcastic "This is the hill I've chosen to die on apparently."
"The other can go help Suika and the other children weave the gold thread into wires. There's still a couple of miles to go." Kinro said.
After a round of Rock Paper Scissors it was decided that Tsuki would help Gen with the batteries and Kishi would go with Suika to make wires. Kuro stayed outside and played with Suika's tiny white puppy, Chalk.
"Awww c'mon! We're never gonna get any sleep!" A shorter young man with platinum blonde hair whined to Kinro at the village entrance.
"It's for the sake of the village, Ginro. Until this is all sorted out, I only want to see you on watch, training, or eating." Kinro ordered.
Ishigami Village was located on a small peninsula in the middle of a huge frozen lake. The only way in was a narrow rope bridge. The landmass was covered in small huts, all closed off with chimneys blowing smoke. Tsuki entered one of the huts with Gen, sitting by the furnace alongside a girl who almost looked exactly like Kohaku, except she wore her hair down and had a much more kind and serene face. This must've been the sister Kohaku mentioned was sick. Once Gen showed her how to make a battery, it was a pretty simple process. Gen also invented a song to help pass the time, but got annoying after about an hour.
Kishi sat in another hut where a circle of small children were all weaving gold threads into tight coils. Judging by the spool size, they had already made a huge amount of progress. Suika handed him a bundle of gold string, smiling at him through her watermelon mask. Kishi was confused as to why this little girl wore a fruit on her head when none of the other children did, but he didn't really want to pry, at least not now.
"So you're a good guy?" Suika asked as she continued weaving.
"Heh. I'd like to think so. I'm sorry if we scared you earlier." he replied.
"It's okay. It's just the last time guys who looked like you showed up, they chased me through the woods. They wanted to break my legs and take me prisoner." Her hands started shaking at the memory.
"Oh wow. That sounds terrifying. How did you get away?"
"Senku and Kohaku helped me trick them to a spot on the mountain full of poisonous gas."
"Damn. You're a really tough little girl."
"Heh, I haffta be. I wanna help everyone. No one really expects me to be useful, or at least they didn't before Senku showed up. All I wanted to do was do my part for the village, but no one really let me because I wear this watermelon on my head. But then Senku said I was 'near-sighted' and fixed my eyes. I can do so much now." she said happily.
"Wow. You and I aren't so different, kid."
"Really? You're not wearing a fruit."
"No, but I've considered it. But what I meant is, a few months ago I had trouble finding a way to help people too. That's all I wanted to do. Protect people, really make a difference. Then, I guess it was a stroke of luck, but I was able to really unlock my full potential. And now I'm here. I'll make sure you and your village aren't hurt." he said, patting the girl on the shoulder.
"You and me, we're like...protection buddies!"
"Protection buddies?"
"Yeah! Like, I wanna protect the village and help them, and you wanna protect everyone. So we're protection buddies, right?" Suika asked, holding out her tiny fist.
"Heh. Yeah kid, we're the protection buddies." Kishi replied, bumping her fist with his own.
A few hours passed and the sun started to set. Tsuki and Kishi got to see the fruits of Senku's scientific journey once it got dark and the villagers put up strings of lights. The villagers all wondered where their chief was, as Senku had apparently not come out of the storage house since he got back.
"Should one of us go talk to him?" Kohaku asked the group.
"Whatever happened to you guys must've been really shook him up. I don't think I've ever seen him like this." Chrome pointed out.
Kishi looked to the ground, biting his thumb in contemplation.
"Let me go talk to him. I think I know what's bugging him so much."
"You think so?" Tsuki asked.
"Yeah, I think he's going through the same shock I did when I got my keyblade." he replied, making his way up the ladder and knocking on the hatch.
There was no answer. Concerned, he gently opened the door and crawled inside. He was in awe at what was in the room. The whole place was pretty small, and illuminated by only a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. All along the walls were papers all sketched almost one to one scale of Kishi, Tsuki, their keyblades, the creatures they fought, and the runes that appeared around Tsuki when she casted her ice spell. In between the drawings were all sorts of seemingly random equations and formulas, some furiously scribbled out and others with giant question marks writting over them. There were also several threads criss crossing around the walls almost like a spiderweb, trying to connect everything. And in the center, writing another equation at super fast speed, was Senku. He was clearly tired and wired, shaking ever so subtly as he kept writing and didn't even acknowledge Kishi entering.
"Uh...Senku? Are you...okay?"
"No. I'm pretty far from okay. And it's your fault. Nothing makes sense now."
"I'm...sorry?"
"I've spent my life trying to figure out the inner workings of every single thing on the planet. Taking junk apart, putting it back together, making new things, that's all science. Then you show up, and now all my notes are practically useless!"
"Woah! I don't think that's really necessa-" He was cut off by the white haired scientist turning to face him, his eyes showing so many emotions at once, but mainly frustration.
"You can make something from nothing. You come from some 'other world'. Your girlfriend can bend the elements with giant frickin key. This violates what I know about the Law of Conservation of Mass, Conservation of Energy, and String Theory. If these other worlds are truly like other planets, then there could be an entire observable universe right under our noses that we missed this whole time. So do you wanna tell me what is and isn't necessary!?"
"..."
"..."
"...I mean, she's not my girlfriend."
"What?"
"Tsuki, she's not my girlfriend. We kinda just met and we're travelling together. She's more like a coworker."
"That's what you're taking away from all this?"
Kishi sighed and sat down cross legged on the wooden floor. Senku followed suit.
"Look, Senku, I was in your position not too long ago. I thought I understood most things about my world before the Heartless attacked. But then I learned how much potential was out there when I got my keyblade."
"So you were a scientist before you were some sort of magical mercenary?"
"What? Oh no, I was an errand boy for a talking duck."
The albino scientist twitched his eye and smashed his face into the table in front of him, a piece of paper sticking to his forehead.
"Ah geez. Okay, look. All the stone people, the guys told me you were trapped in there too. Do you remember how it happened? I don't think that was science."
Senku sighed, "I don't know...yet. All I know is it was a normal day, then suddenly a green light passed over us and everyone on Earth was turned to stone. It took a little over 3700 years for me to thaw out."
"How do you know how long it was if you couldn't move?"
"I counted, duh." Kishi's eyes widened at this statement. He did nothing but count for thousands of years!? How did he not come out as some number themed supervillain?
"Oooookay. Well, you said you don't know how it happened."
"Yet." Senku corrected, "I don't know yet, but I've been researching it. I'm gonna find out one day. And along the way, I'm gonna save everyone and rebuild society."
"That's really noble, my guy. But, couldn't you say the same thing about what we showed you today?" Senku raised an eyebrow at this suggestion, "I mean like, clearly you're trying to find out, but it's not really healthy to obsess like this. You're not researching the cause of the stone people right now, you're building a damn cell phone."
"Because our biggest obstacle is Tsukasa and his 'Kingdom of Might'."
"Right, and I think I've proven that I'm not your biggest problem right now. I just wanna help you guys. Yeah, you don't know how my magic or my keyblade work, but you will. But, right now your friends need you. They're all worried about you." Kishi placed a friendly hand on Senku's shoulder. He chuckled and casually swatted his hand away.
"Guess I went into nerd shock, eh?"
"Happens to the best of us. I had half a year of training to get used to it."
The two young men climbed out of the tree house to rejoin the other villagers.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Senku. You look like you need sleep." Kohaku pointed out, crossing her arms.
Senku picked his ear with his pinkie, "Ah save it. I'm fine. 'Sides, you meatheads wouldn't know what to do next without me."
Just then, they heard a super loud scream that rustled the treeline. A recognizable watermelon bounced its way through the bushes into the open clearing.
"Suika? What was that?" Chrome asked.
"It's Ginro! He's being attacked by some bad guy wearing black! Those monsters are with him!"
Kinro was the first to start charging in the direction she came from, his katana drawn and ready to strike. Kishi and Tsuki nodded to each other and summoned their keys. They took off running behing Kinro, with Kuro following them. Kohaku jumped to the treeline and started to parkour her way through.
Kinro charged through the brush, bushwhacking anything in his way with incredible speed. This left an empty pathway for Kishi and Tsuki to catch up. They made their way to the clearing where the enormous waterwheel was spinning in the river. They found Ginro surrounded by the same kind of monsters from earlier. He was nervously swiping and flailing his sword all around him, not knowing what he was hitting. On the other side of the river, the fighters could make out a figure wearing a black cloak, his arms casually behind his back, and his face obscured by the hood.
"You! Are you responsible for these creatures!?" Tsuki hollered out, pointing her keyblade at him.
Just then, he disappeared in a black mist and reappeared closer to the group.
"My Unversed listen to me, of course, but they can't help it when there's such an overwhelming source of negative energy nearby." he said in a cold husky voice.
"Unversed? Negative emotions? What are you talking about!?" Kishi questioned.
"The Heartless are attracted to the darkness in people's hearts. Me and my Unversed? We look for the worst feelings in people. Rage, grief, disgust, and of course, fear. Little silver boy here is quite the coward, perfect pickings for me."
All the while, Kinro was cutting through the Unversed, trying to ensure Ginro's safety. "You stay away from my brother!" He yelled as he cut through three Unversed at once.
"Who are you? Just some creep who gets off on scaring people?" Tsuki asked.
"Well, I was gonna save pleasantries for later, but since you asked oh so politely." The figure removed his hood to reveal a featureless black mask that covered his face.
"My name...is Vanitas..."
END OF CHAPTER 5